Runners turn out for good cause

Charity races draw plenty of participants

Despite a chilly drizzle that strongly made the case for staying home in bed, thousands turned out early Saturday to walk and run in three local charity races.

Some came well-insulated in gloves, caps and tights, others in thin running shorts, but all came to support a good cause and get some exercise.

“I’m happy to be here. When we start running we’ll be fine. I’ve run in much colder weather,” said a well-clothed but shivering Dr. Elizabeth Evans as she waited for the start of the second annual Run+Walk for Rex.

The roughly 500 participants who turned out for the event at the Wheatley Heights Sports Complex could choose distances between five kilometers, 10 miles or 20 miles.

On hand but not running were state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte, D-San Antonio, and her husband Pete, along with many other family members. The event is named for their infant grandson Rex who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and it benefits research at the Southwest Research Institute.

“Sure, it’s bad weather, but look at the hundreds of people who have come out. It’s very, very exciting,” said the senator, who recently finished an exhausting, yearlong, unsuccessful marathon for lieutenant governor.

Among those waiting in the rain was Gedi Kiflezgi, 26, a lean fellow who used to run in high school and college.

“I love to help people and I love to run, so for me, it’s the best of both worlds,” he said.

A few miles to the north, several thousand people gathered near the Freeman Coliseum for a 5-K race sponsored by Corner Store and benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters in the United States and Canada, as well as other charities.

Shortly before the race began, a check for $500,000 was presented to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters by Kim Lubel, Corner Store chief executive officer. Another $500,000 was given to other children’s charities.

The series of eight races sponsored by Corner Store began in Quebec, Canada, in September, and wrapped up Saturday in San Antonio. And while some 7,200 had signed up, the bad weather had trimmed the field.

Country Western music, a cowboy on stilts and large cartoon characters kept the crowd amused during the countdown, but not everyone was there by choice.

As Frederick Knott, 41, his wife Jessica, and their three daughters huddled in the chill, the eldest, Kayla, 12, confessed to treasonous thoughts.

“I just want to go home and sleep,” she said, but her mom was having no part of that.

“It’s a family event. I decided it was time for us to start running and getting healthy, so I signed us up,” she said.

And a few minutes later, with cowbells clanging and Darius Rucker belting out his version of “Wagon Wheel,” the mob surged through the starting gate on a 5-K ramble around the complex’s slippery parking lots.

Meanwhile, to the northwest, at Eisenhower Park on Northwest Military Highway, another 5-K race sponsored by the Epilepsy Foundation of Central and South Texas also was underway.